Closed [The Quarters]Chaon Escort Service [Ebrahim, Mirage]

[Annalisa Marin]

84th of Fall, 513 AV

Anna was displeased by her daily readings, coming once again to a rather tired revelation that was apparently not as new was many would expect. She walked the halls of the Quarters cautiously, a bemused look on her face. Her grey eyes were ever alert, not just for the hypnotist Daren Marlow but for the hypnotist Maduro. The former was far more dangerous than the latter, but it paid to be alert considering what she'd read of the latter's brazen attempt on her life. Her mind was sharp and ever alert for any changes to the patterns of thought that flowed through it. She was not going to be caught unawares, she was determined not to fall victim to the ploys of either hypnotist.

She was on her way to the Palsa Hydrasa today, with the intent both to see if Amaryllis had any instructions for her today and to give her report on the resources gained yesterday. The Embalmer likely knew how to handle the Tears of Uldr situation better than she, if anyone could tell her what angle to play with Uldr's faithful it was her. The papers had also told of a voice that had spoken to her, one that she suspected to be either spiritual or divine in nature. The latter was far, far more terrifying than the former, a ghost she could handle but attracting the notice of the god of undeath was not something she considered favorable. Anna was rather attached to breathing and other functions and pleasures associated with living.

Not only did she have two hypnotists to worry about, but possibly the clergy of the God of Undeath. Her potential enemies were starting to stack enough to make even her a little nervous. For allies she had a ghost child that was devoted to petty ideals like right and wrong, that same hypnotist that owed her a favor of her choosing, and Amaryllis who's angle was still very unclear in all of this. Yes indeed, not even ten days on Sahova and already things were starting to look very bleak. She needed more allies, loyal and long term allies. People that could help her out and make life marginally more easy on Sahova. Unfortunately, while authoritative and capable of backing up her threats when made, her abilities to make deals were hardly the best.

Reading the initial promise she had forced from Maduro, Anna realized that if she had simply included the condition of him not speaking her name in the Temple the whole threatening him part wouldn't have been necessary. Because she had not had the foresight to so he had gotten stupid ideas in his head, ideas that she had very much needed to kill as soon as they were formed. She could not have him holding a favor over her, not ever. She already owed Amaryllis too much.

It was obvious to her that she needed to kill Daren, and either utterly break and enslave Maduro to her will or kill him as well. The latter seemed so much more satisfying and safe than the former, but not as good for her in the long run. Amaryllis would hopefully have some answers here, because Anna really needed the Embalmer's advice as much as it pained her to admit.

The tall woman set off down a flight of stairs, walking down to the ground floor of the Quarters and down another series of long and empty hallways. Her eyes were ever alert though, her body ready to generate res or crack a brilliant smile depending on the situation presented to her.

[Ebrahim]

Ebrahim had finally had enough. For more than 10 days the Nuit had sat, unmoving, in the cool dark room that was now his home within the great citadel. Eyes closed, thoughts and symbols were brought into existence and just as quickly they were snuffed out. They swirled around him flowing backward and forward and Ebrahim did nothing to restrain them. Rather, the Nuit let them do as they wished; using his consciousness to sift through it all in the hopes of alighting on the proper course of action. The magecrafter was mediating on exactly what it was he was to create for the Judgment that loomed before him, but outside forces conspired to break the reverie of Ebrahim and force him back to the material world.

The body that the Nuit possessed, the weak and decaying body of the old sailor, had not aged well of the course of the season. Once within the protection of the Citadel and with the resources of the Nuits that resided there at his disposal, Ebrahim had managed to prevent the body from completely falling apart. Despite his best efforts, however, the body still continued to decompose. Whenever the Nuit sat or stood, juices seemed to leak out of the body pooling wherever he had been. The stench was atrocious and even without having to breathe, the abhorrent stench of rotting flesh still seemed to penetrate Ebrahim’s nose. It finally had become too much for him to ignore and it had become time for Ebrahim to seek a new body.

With a heavy grunt, Ebrahim still had the habit of making such noises from his time with the living; the Nuit raised himself from the mat upon which he had been sitting. Even as he did so the Nuit heard the sickening squishing sound that only comes from rotting flesh beginning to fall off the bones. With a scowl that would have done any matron proud, Ebrahim grabbed the portion of his body that was beginning to fall away (in this case a chuck of his thigh) and held it into place. Bent over and hobbling, taking great care to not make any more of the flesh fall away, Ebrahim made his way to the door and threw it open into the hallway.

As Ebrahim hobbled his was into the corridor he was forced to face on rather unfortunate fact: he had no idea where he was going. During the 100 years of servitude forced upon him by his maker in return for unlife, Ebrahim had been tutored on the politics and history of Sahova but the petching fool had never educated his progeny on the layout of the Citadel. Coupled with this was the fact that Ebrahim’s eyes, rather the eyes of the body he now possessed, were clouded by cataracts making it enormously difficult for him to see more than a few feet beyond where he stood. In the past such a handicap had never really affected Ebrahim considering he had been confined to his room and before that a boat. However, now that he was in the Citadel (and was beginning the process of crafting the item that he would present to the Judgment Council) such a body was inexcusable.

Luckily for Ebrahim, just on the edges of his eyes site he was able to make out the fading form of another being. Throwing caution to the wind, the Nuit barked out to the retreating form. “You there! Halt!” Not waiting to see if they had listened the Nuit continued in a slightly kinder tone but with the same raspy voice, “I need to get to the Palsa Hydrasa. If you assist me in getting there then I can make such a spending of your time worthwhile.” Silently the Nuit prayed that such an offer would entice who or whatever it was to assist him to get where he was going and that he would not regret that promise in the future.

[/center]

[Annalisa Marin]

An order originating from raspy vocal cords stopped Anna, giving her cause to check over her shoulder to see who dared to bark a command in her general direction. A rather unhealthily decaying Nuit had shambled down the vacant halls of the Quarters towards her direction, his state was enough to mildly disgust the Chaon. She listened to his plea, moving to face his direction fully before leaning against a nearby wall with a bright smile plastered to her face. The expression was so overused by this point that the apprentice feared her face might crack.

Her grey eyes flicked down to the undead's hands, noting no ring adorned them. That fact coupled with him asking for help to the Palsa Hydrasa led the apprentice to believe that he was either a visitor, or one untested by the Judges. This presented her with a lovely opportunity for more shameless extortion of favors, though hopefully this one would be better than that worm Maduro.

"I'm normally not fond of being ordered about by social inferiors, be they fellow pulsars or the undead but luckily for you I'm not an apprentice to take offense to such things. Be careful with that tone in the future, its unwise for visitors or unproven to give orders here." She commented, her tone leisurely.

In actuality she really wanted to see if she could burst his head open like a rotting fruit with a well placed boulder. She had taken it as a personal slight, but opted to let it pass for now. In the event that he actually sounded useless, there was nothing preventing her from dragging him to a secluded area and ending him there for the affront. The mental image of Nuit ichor staining weathered walls amused her.

"The Palsa Hydrasa you say? How fortunate for you, I happen to be apprenticed to Amaryllis. I was on my way there actually, so it wouldn't be overly troublesome to let you tag along. It'll cost you, but we can discuss that later." Anna offered, gesturing for him to approach with an imperious prompt from her right hand.

"You mentioned making the effort worth my while, what can you do that makes you valuable to me? What services can you offer to me?" She would inquire if he approached.

Gauging his worth to her in the long run was the immediate concern, deciding then what she could actually use him for would come afterwards. Target practice was the obvious one, his other uses were still rather unknown quantities. If he said hypnotist, she was definitely going to kill him. The petching discipline was proving more trouble than it was worth and she figured it would actually be a civic service to eliminate a hypnotist.

She liked actually being alive in the Citadel, the simple fact that an apprentice ring seemed to adorn a body with rise and fall to its chest seemed to irritate some Nuit. That was in itself a status symbol more than anything else, especially when bronze became silver and a full title of wizard was given to her. Once that was hers it would be so much easier to remove insects like Maduro from the playing field, as well as reward allies. Of course, that would also firmly place her further under Amaryllis' thumb, such was the price paid for power. The Embalmer was still very useful, and Anna genuinely enjoyed the Nuit's company. When the time finally did arrive when moving against her would be necessary, either to remove the Embalmer or place her under her own influence she'd probably feel a slight pang of regret.